Returning Home
by SmashQueen
Summary: A human returns after nearly a year to her hometown Arcadia. Contains con artist neighbors, the HRA, and rambling.


I hadn't been to my town in some time, so I made this fiction in celebration. Not everything is accurate according to Animal Crossing's laws like you can't yell at Tom Nook for not buying your trash. I base everything on my real town and neighbors from the GameCube version. (Listed is the actual day and time I visited, I was just too lazy to finish and upload it.) This is a first person PoV of my character (not me, so don't say I'm not following site rules) who has returned to her hometown, Arcadia.

Note: This is a one-shot (was going to continue, but AC can only hold your attention for so long) and is a cut version of what I had planned.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Animal Crossing or any Nintendo related…stuff.

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December 7, 2005 12:46 PM

It had really been a long time since I had wandered around Arcadia, my hometown. Well, it became my hometown after I had moved out of my parents' house and rode the train on over. Rover creeped me out when he sat by me and started asking tons of questions. Then again, without him I wouldn't have gotten a home here. He was both annoying and helpful in his own twisted way. When he mentioned a cat with no face one day when I was on my way to another town I thought he was crazy. I was proved wrong on my way back when a faceless white cat sat down across from me. It was kinda fun drawing her a new face. It had a yellow and blue striped background with little dots for eyes. The next time I met Rover I told him all about it. It seems I always meet him on the train no matter what time it is. Does he live on the train or something? He probably inhabits the caboose and lives off scraps from the diner cart. I wonder how Rover and Blanca are doing now?

Anyway, my mailbox's flag was up and blinking and it was probably stuffed full. I opened it to see only three letters. One was from the HRA about my house being 'far from perfect', typical, one was from Tom Nook about a satellite for sale, also typical, and the last one was from…**Cobb**! I read his letter over and over again in disbelief. 'Life'll be fine'? But he was my first friend. He showed how things worked in Arcadia and told me what to do if I lost my way. "Find the river and follow it upstream. If you come to a cliff go the opposite direction until you come to a hill. If all else fails, try to find the tree Cyrano punched last year. It's by acre C-3. You can't miss it!" From what I could tell, that tree was lucky to still be standing from a hit like that. It looked like it could topple at any time. Luckily it hasn't fallen yet. At least it didn't the last time I was here. Well time was ticking away and I had no time to goof off. I went inside my house to Cockroach City. I shuddered as I ran about my first floor like a lunatic, crushing every single one of those disgusting insects under my foot. I had to push away my Luigi statue, the Christmas tree from last year that I forgot to put up, and my red sofa to get at the pests. My second floor was no picnic either. My regal setup was under siege by more roaches. It was like dancing as I squashed them all. After the population of Cockroach City died out, I checked my room for little things I left around the last time I was here. There was a small Christmas tree at the foot of my bed, also forgotten from last year, a piece of exotic furniture in the corner holding my NES game Donkey Kong, and a bonsai tree also at the foot of my bed. I left everything as it was with a white radio playing one of K. K. Slider's songs as I headed down the flight of steps for my basement.

It took me a few days to pay ol' Nook for my basement and it well worth it, unlike my second floor that took over a month and a half. I really hated him for the price but when I turned in that last bell to Phyllis, the cranky nighttime post office girl, I felt relieved. The next day brought dread of what else Tom Nook wanted and the golden statue. I wanted to wring Tom's neck when he started his speech of how much it would cost but it quickly subsided when he said he was joking. He left the statue and me by the train station as he walked off laughing. It took a week for me to stop my plans of beating the snot out of that raccoon.

I turned on the light and peered into my basement. It was just how I left it: a neat mess of dressers, paper, NES games, a dainty umbrella, gyroids, models, a blue bunny balloon, a pitfall I was saving for the right day, and other assorted items littering the ground. It looked a lot bigger when I first got it but with all the junk I had it quickly became cramped. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. Six dressers lined the back wall next to a green pipe. I searched each one for contents and each one held three articles of clothing. There was a stormy shirt, a lil' bro shirt, and my old work uniform. I still wanted my wages back. I moved on to the fishing pole, net, and shovel on the ground. I took the shovel and stuffed it into my pocket. Handy little thing. It got me my first fossil. Blathers loved that Dinosaur Track and since then I had completed a quarter of the museum. No one else seemed to want to do any work so it was my 'duty' to do everything in the town. Lucky me. After looking over my 'collection' of odds and ends I checked up on my NES games. A little dusty but still playable. A train model, a caboose model, and a track model laid neatly next to a couple of tables with NES games like Balloon Fight and Wario's Woods on them. How many did I have? There were probably more at Treasure Island waiting to be played. Hopefully Drift hadn't taken over my resort home. Amazing. I hadn't been there in months and I still remembered his name. Well, there was nothing else I wanted to do with my stuff. It was just how I wanted it. I left an ivy wallpaper by my undeflatable balloon and left my house.

Outside, I took out my map. Thankfully I lived in a small town without litterbugs. I pulled some weeds near my Gyroid and before I knew it I came face to face with Aurora the penguin in Acre B-2.

"Hey Aurora!" I called. She looked over from her weed-filled area at me. I was a little rusty on my Animalese but she was obviously worried. I asked how she was doing and said something about bells. Animalese was hard to learn but I eventually learned it one night while running an errand for a snooty person, er animal. How do I remember it was a snooty animal? Because only the stuck up animals wore makeup and stayed out late till some time in the morning when sane people were asleep. I was nodding off delivering a package to another gussied up animal an acre over from the sender when everything became clear.

"…give you this furniture. I never liked it anyway."

"Wha..?"

"Oh Mary dear, you must be tired! You better go home and rest."

I thought I was dreaming but the bug zapper I got from the night before proved it was shockingly real. Especially when I touched it. …I have no idea what I was thinking. When I first came to Arcadia, I only knew enough Animalese to get by and ask where the bathroom was which turns out you have to buy one from Tom Nook before you can use it. Luckily it was the first item I ever got. Back on subject, Animalese got clearer and clearer from that night onward and a week later I actually spoke it and scared the heck out of Nook when I threw my voice to his clock. Good times. Nook however got me back with the whole statue bit. The last thing I did on my last visit was trying to sell him some trash and asking 1,500 bells apiece. When he said no, I said it was an outrage and 'stomped' out of his store. The whole town knew about the incident before long and I had to explain to all of them I was just joking and that I was getting Nook back for the whole statue thing.

I waved back to Aurora and continued picking weeds. Why didn't anyone else pick them? When it came to a Fishing Tourney or a special event you could count on them to come out and do something, but when it came to actual work it was a no show. It was like they were waiting for some hapless, foolish human to come by, put them to work, and never let them go. And when the human didn't do any work like plucking weeds or fixing up their home for the HRA, they'd yell for practically no reason. The HRA can kiss the back of my Luigi statue! Line up you corporate scumbags! I'm awaitin'! Ahem. Keeping the town in check was a twenty-four hour job and I grew tired of it. Which is why I left in the first place. While my mind raced with reasons to hate the HRA and my neighbors, I bumped into Bertha the hippo. She was just as worried as Aurora and asked where I had been the past eleven months. Eleven months? Had it really been that long? I told Bertha sorry and left, once again picking weeds. I would have to mail everyone and tell them sorry or that I was back. I traveled past Bertha's and Maddie the dog's houses to Nookington's. Thanks to Link from Hyrule, the old raccoon was able to upgrade his shop. I'm serious. A guy from a town called Hyrule came to my town. I'll probably visit today or tomorrow. Last time I was there, I was making a delivery to Grizzly I think. I wonder if he's still there? If not I'm going to kick Link's butt till Mitzi comes home! Mitzi was an old friend of mine who moved. I don't know where to, but I still remember waking up at five in the morning and talking up a storm with her.

Nookington's stood in front of me like a two story corporate evil wanting my hard-earned bells. A small group of trees and flowers were planted by the left of the entrance so no weeds grew around the area. At least in back. Even though I hated it I had to go in. I didn't want Nook thinking I was gone for good and sell my home. Nuh uh, not after what I went through to get it. The door slid open and allowed me in as I walked up. Inside Nook had his back to me, talking to his kids Tommy and Timmy. Did Arcadia have a limit on how old you had to be before you started working? Probably not, we had no child-labor laws. Yet another reason my subconscious thought up for me to leave. Timmy and Tommy went upstairs as Nook straightened out his suit. After how many times I had been in there I could tell.

"Welcome to my store! Feel free to browse, but not to…" Nook turned towards me. "Mary! I haven't seen you in months! I knew you would be back!" Yeah right Nook. I smiled softly.

"Good to see you again, Nook." I wanted to barf so bad. "So how's business?" Nook frowned.

"Not good. Since you stopped coming, the residents of Arcadia thought I had bad business and only came by to sell their goods." What? "No one has come since March and I'm about to go out of business. Timmy and Tommy won't have anywhere to go. We'll have to move." Tears watered in the raccoon's eyes.

"I'm…I'm sorry Tom. I had no idea." Nook's eyes lit up and he gave a mischievous grin.

"Ho ho ho! I got you!" I really hated that raccoon. Usually I loved raccoons, but Nook was an exception. I glared at him and crossed my arms.

"Ha ha. Very funny," I said in a monotonous manner.

"Business couldn't be better! With the Christmas season comes great profit. Timmy and Tommy are even going to bed on Christmas Eve after finding Jingle. Those little scamps! So how may I help you?"

"I just came in to see how things were progressing. I've got to be going. Those weeds won't pull themselves." Oh how I wish they did.

"Please come back again! And have a Merry Christmas!" He was definitely up to something. I walked back out in the cool winter air and continued to pull up weeds. I couldn't wait for Jingle to come, even though the year before year I was a little naughty. I switched clothing and Jingle thought I was another person so he gave me another present. And another. And another. Needless to say my basement was full afterwards. So was my first floor. I know it was wrong but I wanted a complete Jingle set. Is it too much to ask for a few more presents? If so, I didn't want to be right. Next to my B-day, it was the greatest day in the whole year. The best thing about my Birthday was that it was only five days after Christmas. Which also meant everyone was out of bells like me. Somehow, my neighbors always had enough bells left over for a gift. Thoughtful compared to how some of them ripped me off. Friggin' con-artists.

Before I knew it I had cleared a quarter of the weeds in my town. Yay. Only a hundred thousand more to go. I bumped into Cyrano the anteater and Chico the freaky mouse in acre C-2. Seriously his eyes never revealed themselves unless he was shocked or something. What's more they had my Link designs on as shirts. Who knew they were still in style? Well Chico freaked and Cyrano screamed at me to no end for not being back in some time. It's nice being back in such a caring community. Sarcasm. Best thing I had ever taken up. My subconscious gathered everything negative and subtly unleashed each reason why I should have abandoned this place. Eventually I left and now I'm sorta regretting coming back.

After Cyrano stomped off and Chico creeped me out beyond all reason, I left while still picking those friggin' irritating weeds for acre D-2 also known as the hill acre. You know, the acre where the hill leading into the lower acres is. Well I bumped into Friga and Ursula in there and they were being snobby as usual. And wouldn't ya know it, before I had left I was out 9,000 bells. They had better well get me a great present for all of this or I'll go net-happy on their heads. For some reason we can't hurt each other with axes or shovels but there are no thieving laws or child labor laws. What's with this town? We can't kill but we can aggravate, steal, swindle, prank, and work one another to death. I should have just stayed in my hometown, which is _not_ Arcadia. Oy, I have a headache. Picking these weeds was going to take all day. Might as well go down to the beach. Hopefully no one will be there. Hopeful sarcasm. I walked past so many trees. Does the town well feel I should cut, oh say, **all of them down?** I've got fruit from everywhere and beyond and yet no one picks them. For once, I'm grateful. At least I don't have a bunch of tourists ripping my town apart. I would go axe-happy on 'em all. Or just ruin their town. The best part about traveling, is that if I never ever want to see someone again, I just don't let the person come. Ever again. Luckily I have the only invitation card in town so Tom can't hold a convention and invite a bunch of freeloading weirdoes to thrash everything. What's an invitation card? You know, it's the thing you give to your friend so he or she can come and see your town first-hand and it's the thing you save with. It's like all of our lives are on a data disc and at any time someone can just erase it – Poof! – just like that. Ah well.

So I went down to the beach in acre F-1 and wouldn't ya know it, someone had moved in. Great another freakish mouse. And not just any mouse. It's _blue_! Yay for my favorite color _if_ I cared. I tried not to make eye cont-ack! But he saw me. I decided to get it over with quickly.

"Hi, my name's Mary. Don't buy Nook's stuff. He's a rip-off artist. Have a nice weed-filled day." I turned away after the quickie intro and he answered my response.

"Mary, huh? Oh, I heard about you, cheese!" Here we go. "You're the human that takes care of the town, cheese!"

"Yep. That's me." I didn't turn around and was set to go as soon as possible.

"That's got to be hard. Oh! I'm sorry! My name is Samson! I just moved to Arcadia, cheese."

"Yeah. I got to be going now." Thank goodness. Walk away, walk away. Pretend to look at an apple before…

"Can you do me a favor?" Oh sweet heavens no.

"Sure. What?" I _had_ to say it. Just turn back to the freak Samson. At least you can actually _see_ his eyes.

"I need to give this to Aziz but I haven't been able to find the time, cheese." Strangely enough, no one ever does even if they live two feet from each other. Lazy, good-for-nothing, pompous-

"Alright!" No! Why'd I say that? I torture myself, I swear. I had better get something out of this. He gives me…a shirt. A lousy chain gang shirt. Oh yay. I'm sure Aziz will love it. Not. I'm gonna get the shirt off his back as usual and then he's going to send the same dang shirt I deliver today back to me on my Birthday. Then I'll sell it to Tom Nook and in three weeks he'll be selling it for more money than he gave me. The life of a shirt goes on.

"Thanks, cheese." I figure I could change his saying when he asks me like all the other freaks around here. Maybe 'Imma jerk' or 'joemama' or 'kick me.' I'd think of it when the time came. The Clock Tower struck one and the town theme rung out. Another little thing inspired by Link. He said it was called 'Saria's Song' or something. It's rather pleasant. One of the little reasons I still liked this town of con artists.

I made my way down the beach, pulling weeds to no end, weaving back between acres until the whole west side of my town was done. Copper seemed happy to see me. In fact, it was as if he didn't even know I was gone. I can tell _he_ cared a whole lot. As I walked across the stone bridge in F-3, I remember running across it a couple dozen times during a wild goose chase for a stupid handkerchief. A **handkerchief** for goodness sakes. Why couldn't it have been a comic? At least it would have been entertaining. I'd had enough work for one day so I took a little break with the Able Sisters. I walked in and Mabel greeted me,

"Hi there! Come on in. Welcome to Able Sisters, where **you** are the famous fashion designer!" I smiled at her. A genuine smile. Unlike others, they weren't a pain in the butt. At least not to me. Tom Nook is such a slave driver to them, I swear. They should stop selling to Nook and make money of their own. I ambled over to Sable and peered over her shoulder to see that she was working on…a chain gang design. She stopped for a moment and smiled widely at me,

"Oh, Mary! It's always so nice to see you!" It looked like I wasn't completely forgotten. She resumed her work as usual. Compared to her work, picking weeds wasn't so bad. I mean _working_ for Tom Nook every single day when he sells your works at low prices is just not fair. I wished I could have helped them but…I think I already have. No one seemed to come in much and no one seemed to care about getting to know them. Having someone to talk to who you know is honest and loves what you do is – I guess – a great feeling. The Able Sisters were some of my best friends, even if they didn't know it. As I walked out, Mabel sent her farewell,

"Thanks again! You come back, now!" I waved goodbye and continued picking weeds. If those two could take Nook's tyrant ways, then I could pick simple weeds now and then. I passed by the docks and remember when Kapp'n asked where I wanted to go. Treasure Island, where I had met Drift the frog. The weird frog who always said 'brah.' I hurriedly pick the rest of the weeds in the acre and went to E-5, the town wishing well. No weeds there, thank goodness. Although Aziz was there. He ran right up to me and I gave him the forsaken shirt. I was two wise-crack comments away from cussing, and I usually _don't_ cuss.

"Delivery from Samson, the new guy in Arcadia living in F-1." Hurry up.

"Alright! I was wondering when I'd get this! Give me a minute to put it on." In the blink of an eye, he's in the chain gang shirt. How I loathed that shirt. "…how does 231 bells sound?" At least it wasn't his shirt. I took the bells and ran to pick the rest of the weeds. The sooner, the better. As I crossed into the adjacent acre, I skidded to a stop in front of the Museum. I loved checking it out and seeing my donations on display. The _only_ donations on display. Inside, Blathers would be asleep. Was he a narcoleptic or something? I ignored it and went on my 'fantastic' journey to get every single weed plucked. I ran by Lucy the pig's house next to Camofrog's place. They were outside walking around. I waved as I ran by, picking off those invasive plants one by one. I rounded up the rest of the weeds in the lower east acres, which disappeared as soon as I pick them strangely enough, and up the hill in acre C-4. I cleared out the rest of the weeds, going as fast as I could and finally getting the last one near the town dump.

"Finally!" I sighed loudly. I hadn't felt that good since I cleared my last debt. Arcadia was nice but enough was enough. I walked back home at just forty-three past one.e

As I walked back inside my house, I took one last long look at Arcadia. Maybe I'd come out tomorrow. Plant some flowers, get some fruit, plan to get Nook back. Yeah. It was good to be back. I walked inside my house and headed upstairs. I turned off the radio playing Lucky K. K. and crawled into my regal bed. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough. …What am I saying? Of course it can.


End file.
